Magnus Motorsports Evo VII-IX CT9A Front Subframe

As the Mitsubishi Evolution CT9A platform continues to get faster and faster, we are all demanding more from the chassis. As the level continues to reach a new peak, we continue to create new products to solve known & arising problems that come with making more power, increased G forces and huge gains in overall speed.

We revised our original subframe design to make it stronger and more suited to all forms of motorsport and street cars.

The DSM Shootout has definitely outgrown the little “Drunk’N’Drag” get together for some DSM enthusiasts that was fulfilled with some sweet 12second cars and drunken stories. It really puts a smile on our face to see that The Shootout has grown to an almost 10,000 attendee event. Yet another great shootout has gone by and the race to next year’s event has begun. Seeing this year’s achievements for both driver’s and event attendance has left us with nothing but an imagination of how great next year’s Shootout will be.

We had decided to approach this year’s shootout quiet differently, the usual let’s slap the motor together, tune the car and throw it in the trailer approach was thrown aside. We had chosen to build some wondering and confusion for those attending by doing something never done before, and posting teasers of our car on the “interwebs”. Marco had come up with a crazy idea of doing a Cantilever set up in the rear end that had even the employee’s scratching their heads. Before we knew it we were cutting up the suspension and looking for a way for this to work. Therefore the shootout was more of a test and tune for us than a racing competition.

Our reason for leaving the traditional rear end set all started with a simple decision to upgrade to a 3000GT rear end…… Well simple was clearly an understatement, the new objective was to add a bigger tire and run a true drag shock. Our goal wasn’t to fab everything up and throw it in the car for some street cred. The objective was to improve traction and make the car go straight.

We could not be any more satisfied with the outcome of the cantilever set up we had come up with here at the Magnus Minion Headquarters! Everything went as planned and the car did exactly what we had intended on.

Our good friend Gary Andr brought out his RWD 1G build and broke quiet a few necks with it. Although the car was not race ready, it was one hell of a teaser for everyone of what’s to come!

We would also like to congratulate our friend Mike with trapping at 158mph at the shootout , and most importantly thank him for all his help and support year round. We would also like to thank our friends John Wigger, Gary Andr, Nathan Samuels from Apex Motoring, & Mike Andolsun for all their help throughout the weekend!

Our relationship with modifying Porsches had started long before it had become common to modify exotics within the tuner circle. While it was believed to be wrong to modify vehicles of that kind unless it was for upscale levels of competition; we were amongst the few that would argue with those beliefs. Within the past few years it has become a very common practice to push exotics beyond their limits.

Not Our First Time, Not Our Last

For over a decade we had been pushing Porsche’s to their utmost capabilities. With the growth in demand, the bar for the standard of power outcome has reached new levels and an insufficient supply of fuel had come with it. Those shooting for the stars have been restricted by the lack of fuel supply and had caused the cars to lean out. The lack of fuel had put a barrier on making more power allowing us to push the barrier even further by creating our version of the lower intake manifold for the Porsche 996/997 platform. We have had a long journey with studying and improving the fuel and oiling system originally with the Mitsubishi 4G63 engines and carrying that knowledge and experience into the Nissan GTR platform in the later years. With having such a long affair for Porsche’s we had to carry on with the tradition and do something about the lack of fuel supply in the Porsche.

We are proud to say that we have solved the issues and are starting off our next few releases with the Dual Injector Lower Intake Manifold. Our next upcoming product is a complete fuel system for the 996/997 platform, offered in two different trims to suit your exact needs. Tailored for a direct bolt in affair, and giving it a touch with a clean tucked away look under the bonnet of your Porsche!

Made In House Using Only The Best Materials

The manifolds are included with the fuel rails and hardware needed for the install. Made for use with 14mm(Domestic Style) injectors. Made in house using 6063 billet aluminum with no cut corners, every manifold is highly inspected to insure our product is delivered to you in the highest form of quality.

Congratulations Alfateh! You made the front page of Magnus Motorsports website

Please share this in all of your car related groups and on your pages on Facebook and throughout social media, read on for further information

COUNTERFEITER ALERT: Magnus would like to call out a known counterfeiter operating in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia who has been stealing intellectual property from known reputable manufacturers in our industry. It is important that this discussion is talked about openly as it affects all of us in the industry. Please share this in all of your car related groups and on your pages.

Alfateh is his name on facebook, also goes as MOHD HAZRUL or Just “Hazrul”: full name he uses is Mohd Hasrul Bin Jaafar the phone number +6017-3352645 uses whatsapp as a medium of communication, had contacted us through the email of devil2Jz@gmail.com

He is also known to be a Mickey Thompson dealer in Malaysia, operates the https://www.facebook.com/mickeythompsonmalaysia/ facebook page, He represents page under the same phone number, he also represents Clutchmasters in Malaysia. This person is involved in a counterfeiting scheme, in which he imports original parts from small legitimate North American engineering and manufacturing firms, posing as a client or a distributor, then steals their intellectual property and duplicates it and sells it with their name on it as was done with Liberty Gears bellhousing. He then befriends all of the aforementioned firms “friends” on their facebook profiles and solicits them.

As you know people who counterfeit parts are effectively stealing intellectual property. People who unscrupulously copy parts and sell for less money are only in it for one thing and that is financial gain. This is bad for everyone including the end user. In this situation they are copying parts that legitimate firms have spent countless years developing and perfecting. If our parts are ever to go in your engine, we make sure they work, we have a reputation to uphold and we hold ourselves to a very high standard. They on the other hand do not. Do you think you will get the same level of quality and care from a counterfeiter? After they have your money, they close up shop and run, as has happened many times before. We need to stop people from give these counterfeiters money. We need to stop the counterfeiters.

Magnus Motorsports is leading a team of concerned companies and businesses and is offering a reward for information leading to his home and business address so we may have our lawyers in Malaysia who specialize in anti-counterfeiting laws in the region prosecute all persons involved. If you think the person in question has counterfeited your products, please contact us.

Known companies whom they have counterfeited parts from include

Liberty’s gears

WIllall racing

ProJay Intake manifolds

Magnus Motorsports

All information we have on this group are as follows:

Alfateh is his name on facebook, also goes as MOHD HAZRUL or Just “Hazrul”: full name he uses is Mohd Hasrul Bin Jaafar the phone number +6017-3352645 uses whatsapp and facebook messenger as a medium of communication, had contacted us through the email of devil2Jz@gmail.com

Usually ships through a Freight forwarder using the following address and company names

His machine shop which as far as we know produces the parts is located in Singapore

Starlight Supply & Trading Pte Ltd

371 Beach Road #02-29 Key point 199597

Singapore

It is important that we stamp out these unsavory characters and publicly shame them and those who buy their parts. All the other company’s who say its not me! I’m not involved! I wont make any noise so they won’t target me! When you make something of value its worth protecting! Staying silent won’t solve a thing, opportunists like this are everywhere and they coming for you next! Don’t let them steal anymore of your hard earned money.

First used and tested in our Famous EVO X build to reach 1000 hp consistently and safely.

The catastrophic failures tied to MIVEC when upgrading the cams and valves springs has been a known issue for many years. Shortly after the issue arose we had come up with a solution. Higher engine acceleration rates cause the PID of the camshaft control to be unable to operate within its limits. Adding larger turbo’s that spool up above 4500 RPM negate advantages of having MIVEC control. Deleting the MIVEC altogether gave us consistent camshaft control. Locking the cam gears in place results in smoother power delivery as the ECU is not constantly trying to readjust for camshaft error. Consistent high rpm tuning and camshaft adjustability result in being able to dial in your power band more effectively.

When upgrading to larger camshafts and stiffer valve springs, the original exhaust MIVEC cam gear is prone to failure. We highly recommend replacing one or both.

Benefits:

Consistent high RPM tuning

Ability to position camshafts at correct lobe centers for increased power

After over 7 years of design research and development, we have come up with a small FAQ list that can help the novice better understand the misconceptions there are out there about Dogbox or dog engagement transmissions.

This may also double as transverse engine drag racers drivetrain installation tutorial and checklist. Read everything carefully and understand it, many unhappy weekends at the track will be avoided if you follow all of these steps.

Firstly our transmissions are manufactured to withstand high torque loads and fit within the factory case. By changing tooth profiles, gear widths, advanced do lug ramp profiles and careful selection of better material to start with, you have a gear that is up to 4 times stronger than the original.

The dogbox eliminates the brass braking components which stop the gears in a synchronized transmission. Synchronized transmissions use friction to slow down rotating parts to equal speeds to get them to engage together. These wear out much like brake pads in on your car. Using friction (synchronizers) at high RPM’s can cause excessive wear on the synchronizers and is one of the reasons why new synchronized transmission shift great when they are new, but are constantly degrading in shift quality until the next service. A dogbox will have consistent shift quality for its entire life, and will usually outlast a synchronized transmission in a race situation by 10:1, before service is required. The Dogbox operates in such a way that it allows a much larger area for engagement of the Gear to the mating slider. This prevents the possibility of missed shifts, and decreases shift time. Because of the large window of opportunity, the gear can easily be shifted into position. Most drag racers report .5 second knocked off their ET’s, and road racers are able to shave many precious seconds of their lap times. The greatest benefit by far is the increased torque capacity of the gears themselves, whereas original components where not manufactured to hold these kinds of shock and torque loads, our components are.

Can I install it myself?
We highly recommend that you seek the services of a skilled professional installer to install the gearset. There are many critical measurements that must be addressed and the housing must be inspected before it can even be deemed reusable. In some gearsets there may be clearancing and machining required. Due to OEM manufacturing tolerances, (especially with Mitsubishi) interchanging splines may be tight, in this case splines must carefully be lapped into each other. We offer assembly with full precision machine services and affordable shipping quotes.

Can I shift without the clutch?
No, we do not recommend shifting without the clutch, It will considerably shorten the longevity of the transmission. Although mechanically it is possible for this to happen, the back cut on the dogs is there to make sure that under power, the gears will stay engaged, and this makes the momentary release of power necessary in order for the shift to take place. Most racers quickly stab the clutch and release the throttle still achieving lightning quick shifts.

I heard they are difficult to shift.
No. actually when installed and operating properly the transmission will shift faster and easier than a synchronized box. Contrary to popular belief shifting harder is not necessary, but quick direct shifting, without any unusual force, is what is recommended. Too much force will damage your shifting components, shorten longevity.

Can I use it with an aftermarket sequential shifter?
No, We do not recommend or support the use of any aftermarket shifters, including the ever popular shortshifters. Due to the wide variation of aftermarket shifters on the market, and the inconsistency with which they are designed and installed, we ONLY recommend that you use original matching cables, and shift mechanism from your car. (Including the ones for the transmission housing, unmodified) If you are in doubt, as to their compatibility, or integrity buy new components.

What happens if I grind gears?
“Grinding of the gears” is actually grinding of the dogs to sleeves. In any kind of transmission, it is a result of an incomplete or improper shift. In a synchronized transmission or a dog box transmission, it will result in the awful “grinding” noise that everyone has heard and been guilty of performing at least once in their life.

In a dog box because the distance between dogs lugs is greater, there is a greater amount of kinetic energy being distributed to the dog lugs, or more appropriately the corners of the dog lug and sleeve, on the missed shift. This grinding or rattling begins to act as a slide hammer, and can in some cases quickly round the corners from a dog. Constant missed shifts can cause will wear down components and require inspection. Continued “grinding” is simply an abuse on components and can damage other components in the transmission as well, such as forks, rails and shift mechanisms, Dogs, and sliders, In other words, don’t let your kid brother with no experience drive it.

Although our highly advanced tooth profiles minimize the ability for someone to miss a shift, nothing is foolproof, but an experienced driver will have no problem settling in.

Can I drive it Daily?
This is a racing transmission; we do not recommend you drive it daily.

What kind of clutch should I use?
This is most often over looked part of your racecar built up. Always use a clutch that has a rated torque capacity exceeding by 20 percent of your projected torque. Make sure you use a high quality clutch from a reputable manufacturer. Special care must be taken if you are using a solid hub clutch.

Check for minimal play on the input shaft to splines, they must fit snug but still allow free movement of the clutch discs on the shaft. If they are too loose premature wear can occur on your clutch splines or input shaft splines.

Check for concentricity and proper bell housing fitment. Your bell housing must have snug fitting new dowels and the dowel holes must not be oblong or out of round, they must fit snug.

Bolts and threaded area of the transmission must be in excellent condition, we strongly suggest a helicoil in the DSM/EVO 1 transmission. Bolts must be secured properly to the engine. Because of the Harshness and vibration of 4cyl engines we always use blue loctite on the bell housing bolts AND wirelock the bolts to prevent the bolts from coming loose. A few extra dollars spent now, will save you a lot more in the future.

If all of these conditions are not met, loose transmission bolts, and orbiting of the input will occur and can cause damage to the input shaft splines. This is good advice to keep in mind on all performance transmission and clutch installs as it applies to OEM transmissions as well.

If you are drag racing, we highly recommend the RPS carbon carbon unit as the best clutch to buy, and can be bought directly from us. We have worked closely with RPS in designing a drag race clutch to be used in conjunction with our transmission. We also recommend multi disc clutches, by EXEDY.

What kind of oil?
Usually we like to say the thicker the better, but good quality oil starting from 75 w 90 and thicker is recommended. These are Racing transmissions, in no way should you use thin oil on them (Honda type gearbox oil, or engine oil) the nature of the construction favors heavy oil and allows softer shifts. The thicker oil also has greater shear strength and will increase longevity.

Center diff and Spool’s, Ratio options.
We have the capability to offer different ratio’s for your gearset in the DSM/EVO 1-3 transmission this is done by spool gear change and 3rd gear change.

We also offer optional center differentials for road racing, this does not suddenly make the transmission more street friendly, although it does give it crisper low speed turn in.
5th gear option is also available for the DSM/EVO 1-3.

Transmission Installation
For the very high hp and torque applications (1000hp plus) very special care must be taken into consideration when installing transmissions to your chassis. This applies to Transmission assemblies that utilize 2 piece cases, such as Evolution 4-8, and Honda B series. It is crucial that the transmission not be a stressed member of the drive train assembly, when mounted in the chassis. In other words the transmission must be attached to the engine primarily. The engine must be supported to the chassis by at least 3 points, in an appropriate fashion the only way we find appropriate is solid mounts, not rubber, not heavy stiff polyurethane, but metal bushings or mounts. The transmission must bolt onto the engine primarily and use a side mount for support. If you have engine mounts on the front and rear of your bellhousing (Honda, DSM 2g/ EVO 1-3) and are make big hp consider moving them to the engine. Original factory mounts, are NOT appropriate in these high hp situations. In the extreme drag car’s a 3/8th to ½ thick motor plate should be considered. 2g DSM using a 6bolt engine can switch to 6 bolt engine mounts.

Having original engine mounts on your bellhousing will cause undo stress on your transmission (twisting of the entire housing under load) which could lead to shifting complications and shorten your transmissions longevity.

For Honda B series we recommend an aftermarket bellhousing, 5th gear eliminator handcuff and the modifications done above to help hold the transmission shafts in proper alignment, very high torque loads cause the stock case to flex.

EVO Stroker Build-up

Here’s a little pictorial on putting together an Evolution race motor. In this article we’ll highlight some of the differences between the newest generation 4G63 and the early 4G63 motors.

Here is one of our stage 3 Evolution engine blocks. This particular model is a stroker. We enlarged the bore to 3.366” and added 12mm more stroke to get roughly 2.3L of displacement.

Notice the proprietary Magnus pistons with the quench pad technology. These pistons are specifically designed for the Evolution engine, using experience we gained from working with the earlier 4G63 engines. The quench pad provides greater resistance to detonation and is basically an imprint of the head transferred to the piston. Why do we do this you ask? This helps squeeze all the gasses into a smaller space, making the combustion chamber smaller and more efficient.

Here is the Evolution 4G63 head, very similar to the old style head in casting but has a few major changes. First off we all know the flow is reversed. That won’t make any major changes to performance though. The injector bosses are now in the intake manifold instead of in the cylinder head. Placing the injectors a bit further back will give better atomization and also a bit more power. Although the 5 to 10 mm of distance that it has been moved to, to be able to get a measurable power gain would be splitting hairs… but it is an improvement nonetheless.
The intake ports have now been made a more normal size. The 1G port was always in our opinion too large to get good low end velocity out of. This head is much more of an improvement over the 1G DSM. The port entry angle is only 10 degrees; whereas the 2G DSM head had a much steeper entry angle, which was better for performance. A lot of manufacturers are getting away from steep angle intake ports which we can only guess for two reasons. A) Low hood line and less complexity for intake manifold castings or B) Emissions. Sharper angles will promote more tumbling and better atomization, aiding in emissions controls.

Here we see a finished Evo port up against a 1G DSM intake manifold flange for comparison. That’s a huge difference!

Here’s a finished EVO port and how it matches up against our CNC machined intake manifold flange. This image also visually shows the injector bosses.

The exhaust port is almost identical to the original 4G63 engine. Very little has changed except the bolt pattern which didn’t even change that much, its just reversed.

Here we take the Stage 3 Head and sit it down on the Stage 3 block. Now comes the task of checking clearances and degreeing the camshafts. We wanted this motor to run a 9:1 compression ratio so we opted for a .030″ gasket. Had we wanted to try 8.5:1 compression ratio, we would have installed our .060″ gasket.

After the piston clearances have been checked (our pistons allow high lift cams to be used without interference problems) we dry assemble the Timing belt pulleys and idlers temporarily so we can make degree in the cams, making sure they are installed at the manufacturers specs. This not only ensures that the engine will run properly and make power where it is supposed to, but it also ensures that you won’t have any clearance issues between the valves and pistons if your block and head have been decked a few times.

Now that we are sure the camshafts are degreed and installed correctly, we checked for valve clearance and it was more than adequate. Now it’s time to begin buttoning up the motor. The timing belt pulley are removed and the gasket is installed on the oil pump housing. The air separator baffle is installed (Very important do not omit this item, this prevents the oil pump from picking up air bubbles instead of straight oil) along with the oil pick up tube. We use a light coat of sealant on both sides of the front cover gasket, but always install the pickup gasket dry, so as not allow any sealant to get into the oil pump where it could instantly destroy the motor.

The oil pan is installed and the rest of the timing belt accessories are put back on for good this time, including the crank sensor. Notice our custom balance shaft eliminator plug. They are machined from 6061 aluminum in house. We use this instead of the mitsubishi rubber plug because the rubber plug has a tendency to fall out and cause a gargantuan oil leak… at the most inopportune moments. Now that we no longer have balance shafts installed, this means the oil pump orientation when setting the belt is no longer critical. What’s different on the new 4G63 is the timing markings. You must have the rocker cover on to set the timing belt. Why? Because the rocker cover has the cam gear timing marks on it.

There it is all installed, belt on and ready to go, but wait theres something missing.

Kaaz vs Torsen Differentials

First off: we get the same questions from people when they ask us why we don’t sell Torsen type LSD’s. First of all we don’t like the people at that ‘other LSD company’ they’re d***. Secondly in our opinion they sell an inferior product that is way overpriced. The dudes at KAAZ are really cool, and the KAAZ LSD is one of the baddest LSD’s out there and we’re going to list the reasons why we only sell KAAZ.

Why, should you buy a KAAZ LSD?
Some have heard complaints about the KAAZ LSD being too noisy. First of all, they are only noisy in slow speed corners, like parking lot situations. How much time do you spend in a parking lot with your performance car? If you do a lot of parking lot driving, and hang out in parking lots, chances are you are a ricer, go home and read import tuner. If you’re complaining about noise you should not be modifying your car. You should also consider no longer being a man, please hand in your genitals at the door.

Here’s why Torsen LSD’s suck. For you road racer types, as soon as you get one wheel off the ground the Torsen becomes an open differential, in order for it to work both wheels must have complete contact with the ground. When your hanging 1.1g corners and a wheel lifts under power you instantly have no power. That sucks real bad. The KAAZ clutch type LSD is not like that. The KAAZ LSD will remain engaged when a wheel lift under cornering.

Rally drivers and road race types alike prefer these Clutch type LSD’s because they are more predictable, they will always do the same thing over and over again. Repeatability is very important if you want to achieve consistency. Manufacturers, and race teams alike (Mazdaspeed, Nismo, etc) use the clutch type design. It is the one that works. When people say words like Mazdaspeed, RE Amemiya and Nismo you should all bow in reverence, the rest of the world does.

Another problem associated with Torsen type differentials is that by design they try and force the internal gears against the housing in order to achieve the breaking force which will lock the LSD. The same features that make the Torsen quiet make it weak. When a Torsen breaks, it breaks its own housing and sends expensive little bits everywhere, usually breaking the transmission/rear end gear/housings with it. We do not like weakness, refer to second paragraph regarding handing in your testicles.

Now for you Drag racer types, this is where you want the direct engagement of a clutch type differential like a KAAZ. The KAAZ 1.5 way and 2 way diffs, have a cam lock type of engagement. When power is applied, it immediately engages the clutch packs, which in turn locks the wheels. What does this mean to you? Reaction time, lips, that’s what. It reacts right away, and it has direct engagement. Important when trying to rip off good good times. The Torsen type must have slippage in order for it to engage both wheels, this costs you time.

KAAZ LSD’s can be rebuilt whereas Torsen types require little if no servicing. True but lets look into this further shall we? Usually a clutch type LSD will not require servicing until about 100,000 miles into its life, and the parts are all available separately. We say, so what? I can have a better LSD, which in ten years I may have to service, or I can have the chance of having my tranny reduced to a pile of rubble. In ten years I won’t own this pile of scrap, I may be dead, or I’ll be driving a porsche, better yet, I’ll be chauffeured around town in my limousine surrounded by my harem of Truly 18 poster girls.

Now that you have the facts you can be the judge, oh by the way KAAZ LSD’s are usually half the price of a Torsen type. That should seal the deal right there.

Crankwalk Theory

February 2007 – This will be my last update to this. I have left this up on my site as a testament to how naïve and stupid I was when I was younger. I should have listened to my father who had been a mechanic for 40 years. He said, “Change that clutch that’s in there and your problem will go away.”

In the end, I changed the clutch to an OEM clutch, and my problem went away.

Remember the days when your Mitsubishi had a stock clutch and it shifted so quickly? How come it can’t do that with your performance clutch?

All that is listed below means absolutely nothing unless your clutch is properly adjusted and is disengaging properly, have it inspected by a professional. Read below to see how I wasted my time and money, if not for anything I enjoyed the cut up blocks and good times. Well not all was lost, This research and more like it that followed, allowed us to know exactly how to make this engine perform the way it does now. Years ago Magnus overcame all these barriers that others are still trying to catch up to now. How?

Sound engineering + skilled problem solving = Knowledge. The most reliable, most powerful Mitsubishi 4cylinders on the planet from years of knowledge.

Crankwalk Theory – The year 2000:

Seeing as how the 2g cars are starting to get up in the years in age and coming off of warranty our shop is beginning to see more of these failures. With this situation becoming more commonplace, and cars getting heavily modified, we will undoubtedly be seeing more and more cars affected with this situation in the future. Unfortunately its starting to get to the point where the amount of cars that I’m seeing is becoming quite alarming, I really only have maybe 50 or so 2g customers at this point, the number is always growing. But I am beginning to see and hear of at least 2 cases a month in the Toronto area alone, through contacts and calls from other shops and dealerships. That’s quite a few affected cars. What adds more fuel to the fire is the fact that 2g owners are basically helpless, Mitsubishi, and Chrysler will not own up to the problem, and no one can come up with a solution to the problem, nor even an answer as to why?

Case in point, we recently installed a fully built bottom end in a customers car (I should point out it had no thrust problems prior) the crankshaft endplay had started to change within 1000kms. It was greater by .002″. That didn’t have us worried yet. Had the customer not cared to come in on time for his first scheduled oil change it may not have been detected in time. We really couldn’t believe it could have been a thrust bearing failure so soon, considering, my machinist (in my books one of the best) who takes great care in assembly had checked the crank after it was ground, and then checked it again after he had assembled the short block. Being a stickler, and I hate leaving things to chance knowing the finicky nature of the 2g, I also checked the endplay. It was within spec. The crankshaft endplay had been checked on three separate occasions, yet the thrust bearing still failed. Why? The car had not been abused, the owner was very careful with the car obeying the break in rules. He had even requested I go with him the first time he put the car thru it paces, after the break in. At 1500km’s we went for that pass. Something didn’t sound right, we came back to the shop and heard what sounded like the early signs of crankwalk, the trigger plate hitting the cranksensor.

Measuring endplay with a dial indicator, we were now out of spec. We were screwed. Who is at fault for all this and who is gonna pay for it? I can personally tell you from experience that I do not like to do things twice, especially an expensive shortblock like this. All I can do is pray for no damage and swallow it hard. Up to now I had been lucky, almost all of the 2g rebuilds that we had done had turned up shiny. So I did some research, I came up with no answers. Basically people told me to keep doing what I was doing and pray they hold together. Forget it, I needed more definite answers than that. Everyone I spoke to in the last 2 weeks, I had quizzed them on the topic, be it parts counter guy, old school domestic car racer, engineers, whatever. Everyone had either no answer or a theory. I had my own. But still no answers.

Something Jeff Hill at Turbotrix told me, was he had heard about a misdrilled oil passage. Danny, my machinist mentioned something about core shifting of castings happening on old chev smallblocks possibly obstructing flow. My good friends Jimmy + Ryan at J+R Trading and I spoke about it over the phone in great detail, we mentioned “block seasoning”; a process some european manufacturers partake in. They cast a block, then leave it outside well oiled to “season” making sure there is no nasty core shift. Nowadays they are “pasteurizing” them or “pickling” them to speed up the process, whatever you wanna call it, manufacturers everywhere are taking shortcuts to keep the cost of automobiles down and their profits up. Besides, who has time to keep oiling a block in the backyard for a few years, by that time most engines are out of production.

This theory intrigued me, I wanted to cut some blocks apart and check these oil passages. I just happened to have a few scrap blocks kicking around. A 95 that had lost a rod bolt and grenaded, then a 93 that had cracked an engine mount hole. We went to Jamaican Racing Woodbridge HQ (J+R) armed with these and a digital camera, with the hopes of slicing them to pieces on a free band saw. If we slice right thru the galleries we can see what the hell is going on and make a more educated guess as to what is is the difference between these engines, why does one suffer from the affliction while the other doesn’t? Jimmy and Ryan were definitely up to the job, everybody loves a good dissection.

So there we were, Jimmy, Ryan, myself and The Wandering Mercenary for Hire (Peter), late night, an empty machine shop, pack of Dumaurier’s, bucket of chicken and a large band saw. Here are the photos and our theory.

Crankwalk Theory Part 2 (click images for larger view)

1995 Talon block destroyed from a rod nut coming loose, a prime candidate for the slicing.

This is the 93 block getting chopped in half thru the main gallery, notice the one hole in the mains casting that feeds each main bearing. The 95 has an additional hole in the first 4 mains, for the different oil squirters.

The 93 block getting cut down the center main journal, through the oil gallery.

Here’s a comparison pic after the carnage, the cut on the 2g block was not exactly thru the center of the gallery, measurement with a bore gauge showed that they were in fact the same diameter, But you can just barely make out the notch in the 95 main journal (arrow) where our little friend the hidden 2g oil squirter popped out of when we were cutting.

The block on top is the 93, you can tell by the oil squirter passages just below the cylinder bores, they take their oil from the main oil gallery where there is plenty of oil flow and volume, right after the filter. The block below, the 95, has none because the squirters are located in the main journals pointing upwards toward the piston. They are sharing oil from the main bearings oil supply. This is the only major difference between the two blocks that we could find. It turns out to have more significance than previously thought read on.On a side note, the 95 has a larger volume in the main gallery, whereas the 93 gallery volume tapers like a cone the further you go down the gallery (away from the oil pump) probably just the manufacturer taking a shortcut to save time in this case.The core shifting theory flew out the window at this point, both gallery’s were unmolested, and could carry more than adequate flow. We were speechless this is when the bucket of chicken and cigarettes came into play.

This is the 95 block cut about 6″ down. You are looking at the block the way it sits in the car, except the top 6 inches have been removed.In the foreground (A) you can see where the oil squirters reside. They are pressed into this hole. They share their oil supply with that supplied to the main bearings.In the background (B), you can see the size of the main oil gallery. It has plenty of volume, but once again more than the 93 (hmm… this gives credence to the clutch switch theory. The larger volume to fill will take longer on start-up to build pressure in the system. Possible but pretty far fetched)At the bottom right hand corner of the picture, you see the main oil gallery and a main bearing journal gallery (small black hole). Oil flows from the pump to the main oil gallery, then through the main bearing journal gallery, into the journals, then feeds the main bearings, and crankshaft then connecting rods.

In the case of the 95 after it gets to the main bearing journal, It is also split up to feed the oil squirters (which cool the underside of the piston in case you don’t know at this point)

The 93 blocks do not have this, they are squirting oil through a restrictor in a different location (as seen in the previous photo), from the main oil gallery where there is plenty of oil flow and volume.

So here It was, the oil jet. didn’t look like a restrictor, such as is featured on the 1g block, but looking down one end it looked like a check valve, blowing air through it proved it was. Taking it apart answered a few questions.

It is a check valve. A damn small one, and it was filled with crud. After more argument we realized that these things could clog real easy. The point being, not that they get blocked, but that they could very easily get hung open.

The check valve squirter was probably a good idea in some office at Mitsubishi HQ, but it didn’t look so hot at J+R HQ. With the squirter relocated to the mains you would not want to be squirting constantly at lower oil pressures, like when the car is at idle. Nor would the bottom of the piston need cooling at idle. But in the same regard the fact that it is so small, it could easily fall victim to contamination and allow the ball not to seat properly. When disassembling engines it is commonplace to find some scratches right at the orifice of the oil feed on the bearing surface, this comes from particles that the oil filter has not caught. Remember if an oil filter gets clogged, some have bypass valves which allow the engine to continue to get oil. You get unfiltered oil, but you still have a motor.

The orifice in the check valve appears to be between .030″ and .035″, without a needle gauge set we won’t know for sure. But is that enough to bleed off enough pressure to cause massive thrust failure? Possibly, but what other major differences are there between the two blocks? We found no other major differences between the 93 and 95 block (90-91 have larger main journals). This could explain why there is no actual way to predict thrust bearing failure, some engines could be dirtier than others.

The 1g blocks use an oil squirter from the main oil gallery where there is always adequate volume and flow. The 2g squirters are taking oil from the main bearing journals which share oil with the mains and connecting rods.

Picture this scenario: A particle has wedged itself between the check ball and seating surface of the squirter, the engine is at idle the clutch is depressed, we are now receiving less oil flow and pressure than the main should be getting. Now keep in mind the only way the thrust bearing is fed oil, is from oil that bleeds past the main bearing looking for an escape, it then flows to the thrust. If that check valve is contaminated and stays open, then you are losing some pressure and flow. Today, a day after I posted these findings, I received an email explaining that, they look very similar to ABS unit check valves, which should be kept clean at all times. Those manufacturers put filters in front of them to avoid this sort of thing. (Thanks for the info Joe Enamait) more on that as I get it.

If I had a greater command of mathematics I could calculate the oil flow and pressure lost using Bernouli’s theorem, but I don’t so I will leave that to some other skilled individual. These are our findings and I hope sharing this information can help us find a solution to this problem.

In the meantime, over here at Magnus we will no longer be assembling 2g blocks with these oil squirters in place. Like the balance shafts we find them too risky, any time we can eliminate a source of failure on a motor, we’ll do it. I’m not asking anyone to pull their motor right now to do this, but any new block that is going together around here will be machined to accept the 1g oil squirters, and the 2g squirter passages will be blocked. Another thing we are considering is shimming the oil pressure relief valve to provide a bit more pressure, but haven’t looked into it yet, nor have we compared pumps. Knowing what we know we see the 2g oil squirter not entirely as a risk, because some motors have lived long lives with them, but we see them as maybe a way to end our premature engine failures, end the stressfully hair pulling, and generally calling each other nasty names around the shop.

If anyone has any further information they would like to add to this, any other info or discussion would be much appreciated.

Crankwalk Theory Part 3 (click images for larger view)

Here are is a pic of the 1g oil squirter mounted to the cut block without the eyebolt. The main oil gallery is on the other side of the squirter. 4th pic further down on this page there is a pic of the other side.

Here is a close up of the same thing.

Ohhh, the top view of the 1g squirter, be still my beating heart.

The alleged culprit, the 2g squirter, looking down the block from the top.

The 1g main journals.

The 2g main journals, hmm notice where the squirters reside? Not quite as much volume in the journal. If that squirter hung open, it could definitely starve the thrust of pressure. SOme have brought up the point, “Why aren’t the mains and rods failing” Remember a motor spinning freely at idle really requires very little lubrication, on the other hand though, push on that heavy clutch pedal with little oil pressure and the thrust is now getting quite workout.

Comparison shot, this is where the 1g squirters take their oil from. If there is 10 psi of pressure there at idle, like were seeing in some cars, the volume would still be adequate.

The Actual thrust bearing, from the 95 block.

Front side of that bearing, still looks sharp.

Back side of that bearing, after about 100,000kms starting to wear out pretty good, huh? This car ran pretty good 12.7, no crankshaft doing the harlem shuffle either, but it was getting there. Your probably wondering why there is still some more bearing material at the edges. That is just the way they are manufactured. It is not caused by uneven wear, we can assure you, what was left of the surface was flat.

I hope these clearer pics will help clarify some of the questions some people had, stay tuned as we do some actual testing.

Some thing to keep in mind, were looking into oil pressure’s from car to car and checking it with a mechanical gauge. The chrysler manual says “oil pressure at curb idle should be between 80kPa or 11.4 psi”

More Tests
Let me just explain something first, the response we have received regarding these findings has been overwhelming. I try to respond to everyone’s email concerning the subject and I think I got back to all of you, If I didn’t try me again. When looking at the facts and the way we presented them, most people said “hey that makes sense”. But a few people were still not convinced. Sure why should they be? After all, It was just a theory.

Basically, some told me that our theory was weak, and that it holds no water. Well for a little while we started to question ourselves and wonder, could this be the only culprit? Were we barking up the wrong tree? What did we have to do next to prove that maybe it is the squirters, or is it something else? We had to prove it to the jury.

Oil pumps were dissected and examined, cars were tested for oil pressures, no conclusive evidence was found not even something to raise an eyebrow, but we did replaced a few oil pumps, just for cheap insurance.

After much deliberation, and a dissection of another engine that had fallen victim to crank walk, we decided to do some pressure tests on the squirters. Here’s what we did:

Same people were all at Magnus HQ the other night (J+R Turbo, the Mercenary), lotsa coffee, lotsa cigarettes and a serious chicken shortage. Collecting all the 2g blocks we could find, we pounded out the squirters, they come out pretty easy, with a long brass punch hit the little bastards from the top side and the come right out the bottom. In total we had 9 good oil oil squirters. First thing we did was to check if any of them were clogged like we had suspected. We simply blew through them with our lips; made us look and feel stupid, considering none of them seemed to be clogged except one which was questionable. “There goes the theory”, we thought. Still not the answer we were looking for.

We then cleaned them in the parts washer tank with some varsol, and blew them dry with an air hose. Using an air regulator with a gauge., we hooked them up one by one to see what we could find. Here’s the results.

#1. opens @ 18 psi

#2. opens @ 14psi

#3. opens @ 22 psi

#4. opens @ 25 psi

#5. opens @ 20 psi

#6. opens @ 25psi

#7. opens @ 16 psi

#8. opens @ 22 psi

#9. opens @ 25 psi

Something of interest to note was that the squirters locked up closed at anything past 40 psi. Just in case your doing this at home don’t be alarmed. You’re probably wondering, “are they closing up in my engine”. The only reason we saw this was because we were using air, not oil to pressurize them. With over 40 psi of pressure the check ball would close, sealing up against the outlet inside of the squirter, closing it. Why are we not worried? Lets do this with oil. When the check ball lifts off the seat, oil begins to pass around it through the spring and then out the orifice. This constant flow, which cannot be compressed, keeps the check ball in suspension, in the halfway position, the open position.

What does this mean to you? well the first 4 were from one engine, 5-8 were from another engine, and the last one was from the cut block. It looks like a healthy one should be opening @ 25 psi, logically you would want them to open when the engine oil pump has more speed; therefore pushing more volume. So let us say that they are supposed to open @ 25 psi. Most healthy car are between 15-22 psi @ idle at operating temperature, the manual states that 11.4psi is when the technician should call the oil pump anyway. If we have some check valves that are opening too early because of a relaxed spring, like say #2 in the test, we now have that pressure leak we were talking about. This is happening only at idle, when when most thrust load is taking place (sitting in traffic? foot on the clutch?)

Is this evidence conclusive enough? For some the theory may still be weak. When we went over it again, and looked to find any major differences between the 2 blocks this is the only basic difference between the two that we could find, remember, they are in such a critical oiling area. Denying that this could be a problem and ignoring it, is in my opinion foolish. Like I said before I will not put an engine back together with these squirters in place, way too risky for me, and when you take risks with other peoples cars, they tend not to like it.

Currently we have purchased a milling machine so we can modify the blocks in house. After careful examination of the cut blocks, there really is a lot of casting flash in some areas, they will all receive a cleanup, to help flow. The 1g oil squirter mod is taking shape and we will be offering the service as well as a how to instructions and kit. We may also be trying a new thrust bearing coating, or a lot further down the road, we are trying to find someone who will produce an entire bearing for us out of a few exotic bearing materials we have found.

Stay tuned as promised there are still more tests we want to run.

Mar 17th
A lot has happened in the last few months of building and examining motors. We have not yet given up on the 95+ motors, our conclusion as to what may be happening is pointing more and more to our theory being correct.

All the motors which we have disassembled and were had experienced thrust bearing failure, have had questionable pumps. When I say questionable I mean upon inspection and measurement, they are no good. Mind you some 1g cars that we have found pumps at or beyond the service limit have still run fine and after an oil pump replacement have been found to operate flawlessly.

Then there was that 93 1g that came in with a low oil pressure complaint. After checking it with a mechanical gauge and finding it to be too low, we took down the pan and began to check out the engine. The oil pump was found to be bad, the rod bearings seemed questionable, and the crankshaft endplay was .010″. “Ouch”, I thought, after explaining to the customer his problem, he decided to replace just the Oil pump and take his chances from there, he really could not afford a rebuild and decided to buy some more time till he could build a killer motor. This will be an interesting car to watch as it is completely stock and we’ve caught it in the earlier stages, Yes I know it is not a 2g, but the blocks are very similar and they do share the same crankshaft. We can now watch and see a car that is on its last legs, and see how far its going to get along, or if the oil pump change can save it. After the pump replacement oil pressure was back to normal.

A built motor that had walked was also disassembled and a full postmortem was done. The crankshaft had dug itself through the thrust bearing and into the block. All that survived was the Pauter rods, the rest was junk. Opening up the oil pump, it was the worst oil pump I had ever seen. The block reeked of fuel contamination. The pistons were scuffed. A number of thing killed this motor.

Firstly the pistons (which shall remain nameless) had insufficient clearance, this not being the fault of the builder, but of the piston manufacturer, they claim .0035″ is all the clearance their pistons need. I find them to be a bunch of morons and will not use their pistons again. Customer service was horrible, they of course stand by their story. My question is this, A small block chevy that make 250 hp on 8cyl and 5L can probably run .0035 wall clearance on a forged piston, but a 250hp 4cyl 2L, that experiences double the cylinder pressure should not run these tight clearances, It must run at least .005″, the heat generated will expand the piston a lot more. From now on we will only use ROSS pistons.

Secondly, an aftermarket fuel pump and no engine management had this car running extremely rich, thick carbon on the piston tops, and tonnes of fuel in the oil, combined with the scuffing pistons, had ruined the oil pump. This motor was doomed.

So all we were left with was a nice set of rods, In the meantime I had to build find 2 more blocks and cranks to build motors from, because of catastrophic failures on some other engines. As any of you who have looked would know finding these items is very difficult, we managed to locate 3 used blocks and 5 used cranks. The blocks were checked for straightness, magnafluxed and the such, we ended up with out of all those parts 2 good blocks and 3 good cranks, 1 block was cracked and the 2 cranks were at their thrust limit of .007″ and one was slightly bent.

The good cranks were knifedged and balanced, the bearings were specially coated, the oil pumps were new from mitsubishi, the squirters were blocked, yes blocked and no squirters were put in place. Why the no squirter? When we machined a block to accept the 1g squirter we soon enough realized that no other machine shop out there was going to be wiling to do this kind of work to the block. Us selling kits wouldn’t matter if people had nowhere to do the install. Instead taking from what we had done before we eliminated the squirters’ altogether. We had been doing this for some time now in race motors to eliminate the possibility of windage, small loss of power due to oil being squirt onto the rods and pistons. Many V-tec honda motors have them welded up to take advantage of this effect. Now before you all jump out and say “we need the squirter”, take this into account, I have heard of many cases of the squirters’ on 1g’s breaking off and falling into the oil pan because of harsh vibration (out of phase balance shafts), we have even seen them in person, doing oil changes, and dropping oil pans.

In my 1g 6bolt motor they were gone a long time ago, I eliminated them in my build-up. That particular engine ran many trouble free miles and is still running today. No ill effects from this mod. I am not going to discuss the virtues of squirter or no squirter because I can go on forever, I am just going to tell you if you so desire we can retrofit the 1g squirters to your block just ship it to us.

So far 2 engines built are running flawlessly and we are happy to report no failures thus far, only time will tell. As extra precautions we have removed the clutch switches to help on startup.